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"A skeptic is one who prefers beliefs and conclusions that are reliable and valid to ones that are comforting or convenient, and therefore rigorously and openly applies the methods of science and reason to all empirical claims, especially their own. A skeptic provisionally proportions acceptance of any claim to valid logic and a fair and thorough assessment of available evidence, and studies the pitfalls of human reason and the mechanisms of deception so as to avoid being deceived by others or themselves. Skepticism values method over any particular conclusion." - Dr. Steven Novella of The New England Skeptics and The Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast.

Gah... Here's one of the reasons I dislike reporters. :/ Or maybe editors. Not sure. Anyway, last night I was called by a reporter at The Press to comment on the supposed increase in paranormal events since #eqnz.

this post intends to selectively address some of the "talking points" made by anti-vaccination groups, mainly addressing misinformation about the immune system. If you know of any more facts, add them in the comments with appropriate links.

So I was recently reading about Kullback-Leibler divergence in the hopes of finding something to help me with the problem I'm working on (I have a feeling my next presentation will need the subtitle "My descent into statistics") when I found a passage on wikipedia that resonated quite well with me (appropriate links mostly added by me):